AEK Athens

1967–68 season
Chairman	Kosmas Kyriakidis
Manager	Jenő Csaknády (until 24 July) Branko Stanković
Stadium	AEK Stadium
Alpha Ethniki	1st
Greek Cup	Semi-finals
Balkans Cup	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: Mimis Papaioannou (19) All: Mimis Papaioannou (21)
Highest home attendance	32,382 vsOlympiacos (31 March 1968)
Lowest home attendance	4,152 vsPanserraikos (12 November 1967)
Average home league attendance	13,356
Biggest win	AEK Athens 6–1Vyzas Megara AEK Athens 5–0Olympiakos Nicosia
Biggest defeat	AEK Athens 0–3Spartak Sofia Fenerbahçe 3–0 AEK Athens
Home colours
← 1966–67 1968–69 →

The1967–68 season was the44th season in the existence ofAEK Athens F.C. and the ninth consecutive season in the top flight ofGreek football. They competed in theAlpha Ethniki, theGreek Cup and theBalkans Cup. The season began on 7 October 1967 and finished on 31 August 1968.

In the summer of 1967, the good course of the club was guaranteed by the presence, from the beginning of the season, ofJenő Csaknády.^[1] Evaluating the team's existing roster, he decided that without the need of particular transfer additions, he could turn it into a worthy contender for thetitle.^[2] The experience of the previous season, in which Csaknády took the team 6 points behindOlympiacos and managed to make them equal contenders, the confidence and admiration of the players towards his person and his undoubted ability and hard work, convinced everyone in AEK that better days were ahead for the club, even talking about the repeat of the championship conquest of 1963. Csaknády managed to turn the players into soldiers, ready to give their best to the team and their coach.^[3]

AEK entered the championship race and in their first six matches achieved 5 wins and a draw in the derby againstPanathinaikos atLeoforos Alexandras Stadium. The team appeared complete in all their lines and under the guidance of Csaknády, seemed capable of subduing any opponent. The defeat inKaterini againstPierikos by 1–0 on 29 November, temporarily removed them from the top of the standings. The yellow-blacks reacted in a deafening and thunderous way at the very next matchday, when they destroyed the other contender, Olympiacos and their hopes in winning the league, by crushing them by 1–4 atKaraiskakis Stadium. As the league race progressed, AEK were at a demonic pace whenever they faced a big rival in a derby. Most noticeably, the team achieved five out of six victories against the three big clubs ofThessaloniki, withAris managing to get a draw in his ground. With the victory against Panathinaikos at home the yellow and blacks and their record was kept intact, with the only remaining derby being the against Olympiacos atNea Filadelfeia. On 31 March, AEK with their second victory by 2–1 over the club ofPiraeus, ultimately secured the title from the 26th matchday. The win was celebrated by the thousands of fans that were in the stadium, with some of them entering the pitch and taking the jerseys and shorts of the players as souvenirs.^[4] The conquest of the championship was mathematically secured on 4 April, in the 1–0 win against Panelefsiniakos away from home.^[5][6]

While AEK had already been crowned champions, they were also considered the main contender for the conquest of the Cup, as well, which ment conquest of the domestic double. They entered round of 32, where they eliminatedVyzas Megara away from home by winning them by 1–2 at the extra time. Afterwards they facedAris atThessaloniki for the round of the 16 and got the qualification with a 0–1 win. In the quarter-final they passed throughPanionios with another 0–1 away win. The draw of the semi-final brought them against Olympiacos atKaraiskakis Stadium. There, the red and whites managed to take their revenge for their loss of the league, by eliminating AEK by 2–1^[7] and eventually winning the title.^[8][9]

Top scorer of the team in the league was Mimis Papaioannou with 19 goals. The Hungarian-German coach, consistent to the "tradition" he had created, did not agree on staying in the club for the next season, thus achieving the absolute of two championship wins in his two full seasons on the bench of AEK.^[10][11][12]

NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 31 August 1968, 23:59 UTC+2.

Player	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Signed	Previous club	Transfer fee	Contract until
Goalkeepers
Stelios Serafidis		GK	(1935-08-06)6 August 1935 (aged 32)	1953	AEK Athens U20	—	1972
Theodoros Maniateas		GK	(1945-03-19)19 March 1945 (aged 23)	1964	Panthisiakos	Free	1969
Stelios Konstantinidis		GK	(1947-06-06)6 June 1947 (aged 21)	1967	AEK Athens U20	—	1973
Mimis Maniakis		GK	1949 (aged 18–19)	1967	Panionios	Free	1972
Defenders
Alekos Sofianidis		LB /LM /LW	(1937-08-03)3 August 1937 (aged 30)	1959	Beşiktaş	Free	1969
Aleko Yordan		CB	(1938-01-10)10 January 1938 (aged 30)	1962	Beykoz	Free	1969
Tasos Vasiliou		CB	(1938-08-04)4 August 1938 (aged 29)	1965	Apollon Athens	₯1,500,000	1970
Giorgos Kefalidis		RB /CB	(1941-03-21)21 March 1941 (aged 27)	1964	Pierikos	Free	1972
Fotis Balopoulos		CB /DM /CM /ST	(1943-12-17)17 December 1943 (aged 24)	1964	Proodeftiki	₯450,000	1970
Lakis Fragoudakis		CB /DM	1944 (aged 23–24)	1964	Free agent	Free	1970
Nikos Karapoulitidis		CB /RB	(1948-11-30)30 November 1948 (aged 19)	1967	Free agent	Free	1975
Midfielders
Stelios Skevofilakas		LM /RM /AM	(1939-01-06)6 January 1939 (aged 29)	1961	Eleftheroupoli	Free	1972
Panagiotis Ventouris		AM /SS	(1943-03-01)1 March 1943 (aged 25)	1965	Fostiras	₯435,000	1972
Nikos Stathopoulos		LM /LB	(1943-11-08)8 November 1943 (aged 24)	1965	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Michalis Simigdalas		CM	(1944-06-23)23 June 1944 (aged 24)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1969
Giorgos Karafeskos		CM /DM /RM /RW	(1946-12-08)8 December 1946 (aged 21)	1963	AEK Athens U20	—	1974
Forwards
Andreas Stamatiadis(Captain)		RW /LW /SS /ST	(1935-08-16)16 August 1935 (aged 32)	1952	AEK Athens U20	—	1969
Vasilis Mastrakoulis		RW /ST /SS	1939 (aged 28–29)	1966	Hellenic	Free	1968
Kostas Papageorgiou		ST	(1941-01-01)1 January 1941 (aged 27)	1963	Atromitos	₯200,000	1969
Mimis Papaioannou		SS /ST /AM	(1942-11-17)17 November 1942 (aged 25)	1962	Veria	₯175,000	1979
Spyros Pomonis		LW /LM	(1944-02-12)12 February 1944 (aged 24)	1960	AEK Athens U20	—	1973
Kostas Nikolaidis		RW /LW /SS /ST	(1944-09-10)10 September 1944 (aged 23)	1965	PAO Safrabolis	Free	1973

Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Date	Contract Until	Source
GK	Mimis Maniakis	Panionios	Free transfer	1 July 1967	30 June 1972
GK	Stelios Konstantinidis	AEK Athens U20	Promotion	1 July 1967	30 June 1973
DF	Nikos Karapoulitidis	Free agent	Free transfer	1 July 1967	30 June 1975

Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Date	Source
GK	Vangelis Petrakis	OFI	End of contract	1 July 1967

Expenditure: ₯0

Income: ₯0

Net Total: ₯0

AEK entered the Greek Cup at the round of 32.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	Spartak Sofia(A)	6	4	1	1	10	3	3.333	9	Advances to finals
2	Olimpija Ljubljana	6	2	3	1	10	6	1.667	7
3	AEK Athens	6	1	2	3	7	12	0.583	4
4	Fenerbahçe	6	1	2	3	5	11	0.455	4

AEK Athens vOlimpija Ljubljana

6 March 19681	AEK Athens	0–0	Olimpija Ljubljana	Athens, Greece
15:30EET (UTC+2)				Stadium:AEK Stadium Attendance: 6,302 Referee: Todor Gerov (Bulgaria)

AEK Athens vFenerbahçe

3 April 19682	AEK Athens	3–1	Fenerbahçe	Athens, Greece
	Karafeskos 36' (pen.) Ventouris 38',81'		Aktuna 65' (pen.)	Stadium:AEK Stadium Attendance: 8,933 Referee: Josip Horvat (Yugoslavia)

AEK Athens vSpartak Sofia

15 May 19683	AEK Athens	0–3	Spartak Sofia	Athens, Greece
17:00EET (UTC+2)			Vasiliev 11' Mitkov 43' Tsvetkov 79'	Stadium:AEK Stadium Attendance: 6,460 Referee: Doğan Babacan (Turkey)

Olimpija Ljubljana v AEK Athens

3 July 19684	Olimpija Ljubljana	3–3	AEK Athens	Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
17:30EET (UTC+2)	Ameršek 4' Bečejac 27', 34' Rogič 87'		Papaioannou 14' Stamatiadis 60' Yordan 70' Pomonis 75' Vasiliou 83'	Stadium:Bežigrad Stadium Referee: Lado Jakše (Yugoslavia)

Spartak Sofia v AEK Athens

28 August 19685	Spartak Sofia	2–1	AEK Athens	Pernik, Bulgaria
	Tsvetkov 28',84'		Ventouris 43'	Stadium:Stadion Minyor Referee: Dimitar Rumenchev (Bulgaria)

Fenerbahçe v AEK Athens

31 August 19686	Fenerbahçe	3–0	AEK Athens	Istanbul, Turkey
16:15EET (UTC+2)	Doğan 25' Nunweiller 65' Bartu 86'			Stadium:Ali Sami Yen Stadium Referee: Constantin Ghiță (Romania)

As of 31 August 1968

No.	Pos	Player	Alpha Ethniki		Greek Cup		Balkans Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
—	GK	Stelios Serafidis	23	0	4	0	6	0	33	0
—	GK	Theodoros Maniateas	11	0	0	0	4	0	15	0
—	GK	Stelios Konstantinidis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	GK	Mimis Maniakis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
—	DF	Alekos Sofianidis	30	1	4	0	5	0	39	1
—	DF	Aleko Yordan	20	1	4	0	5	0	29	1
—	DF	Tasos Vasiliou	33	0	3	0	4	0	40	0
—	DF	Giorgos Kefalidis	11	0	1	0	5	0	17	0
—	DF	Fotis Balopoulos	30	2	3	0	5	0	38	2
—	DF	Lakis Fragoudakis	13	0	0	0	3	0	16	0
—	DF	Nikos Karapoulitidis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
—	MF	Stelios Skevofilakas	31	0	3	0	5	0	39	0
—	MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	18	2	1	0	5	3	24	5
—	MF	Nikos Stathopoulos	14	0	1	0	2	0	17	0
—	MF	Michalis Simigdalas	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
—	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	21	2	3	0	6	1	30	3
Forwards
—	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	33	13	4	0	4	1	41	14
—	FW	Vasilis Mastrakoulis	3	0	1	0	2	0	6	0
—	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	11	8	4	3	4	0	19	11
—	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	27	19	3	1	4	1	34	21
—	FW	Spyros Pomonis	15	2	1	0	2	1	18	3
—	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	30	18	4	1	4	0	38	19

As of 31 August 1968

Rank	Pos.	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Balkans Cup	Total
1	FW	Mimis Papaioannou	19	1	1	21
2	FW	Kostas Nikolaidis	18	1	0	19
3	FW	Andreas Stamatiadis	13	0	1	14
4	FW	Kostas Papageorgiou	8	3	0	11
5	MF	Panagiotis Ventouris	2	0	3	5
6	MF	Giorgos Karafeskos	2	0	1	3
	FW	Spyros Pomonis	2	0	1	3
8	DF	Fotis Balopoulos	2	0	0	2
9	DF	Aleko Yordan	1	0	0	1
	DF	Alekos Sofianidis	1	0	0	1
Own goals			0	0	0	0
Totals			68	5	7	80

Numbers in superscript represent the goals that the player scored.

Player	Against	Result	Date	Competition	Source
Mimis Papaioannou	Panserraikos	4–0 (H)	12 November 1967	Alpha Ethniki
Kostas Nikolaidis	Olympiakos Nicosia	5–0 (H)	20 December 1967	Alpha Ethniki
Mimis Papaioannou	Vyzas Megara	6–1 (H)	21 January 1968	Alpha Ethniki

The list is sorted by competition order when total clean sheets are equal and then alphabetically by surname. Clean sheets in games where both goalkeepers participated are awarded to the goalkeeper who started the game. Goalkeepers with no appearances are not included.

As of 31 August 1968

Rank	Player	Alpha Ethniki	Greek Cup	Balkans Cup	Total
1	Stelios Serafidis	9	2	1	12
2	Theodoros Maniateas	4	0	0	4
Totals		13	2	1	16

As of 31 August 1968

N	P	Nat.	Name	Alpha Ethniki			Greek Cup			Balkans Cup			Total			Notes
Goalkeepers
—	GK		Stelios Serafidis
—	GK		Theodoros Maniateas
—	GK		Stelios Konstantinidis
—	GK		Mimis Maniakis
Defenders
—	DF		Alekos Sofianidis
—	DF		Aleko Yordan			1						1			2
—	DF		Tasos Vasiliou									1			1
—	DF		Giorgos Kefalidis
—	DF		Fotis Balopoulos
—	DF		Lakis Fragoudakis
—	DF		Nikos Karapoulitidis
Midfielders
—	MF		Stelios Skevofilakas
—	MF		Panagiotis Ventouris						1						1
—	MF		Nikos Stathopoulos
—	MF		Michalis Simigdalas
—	MF		Giorgos Karafeskos
Forwards
—	FW		Andreas Stamatiadis
—	FW		Vasilis Mastrakoulis
—	FW		Kostas Papageorgiou
—	FW		Mimis Papaioannou
—	FW		Spyros Pomonis
—	FW		Kostas Nikolaidis

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website
• A.E.K. FC Database

• AEK Athens F.C. seasons
• Greek football clubs 1967–68 season
• Greek football championship–winning seasons

• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Use dmy dates from August 2022
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata